In Hubballi, no petrol for helmet-less riders

The Hubballi-Dharwad police are now enforcing the ‘no helmet, no petrol’ rule from Wednesday to force them to fall in line.

Picture for representation

Hubballi: Having failed to get bikers to wear helmets, the Hubballi-Dharwad police are now enforcing the ‘no helmet, no petrol’ rule from Wednesday to force them to fall in line.

The police held a meeting with the petrol bunk owners to persuade them to join them in this unusual drive and are providing their staff adequate security in case of a backlash from the bikers. Going by the police, there are over four lakh bikers in the twin cities.

They have carried out various campaigns to persuade them to wear helmets owing to the many deaths that have occurred in road accidents in the recent past.

They also patrol all the main venues of the city to convince the bikers to wear helmets and have installed 15 CCTV cameras at several locations. Interestingly the police have collected over Rs 20 lakh as fine in just one week.

“We have initiated a special drive not to supply petrol to save the lives of bikers. We will impose a fine on traffic violators and bike riders not wearing helmets. We plan to open a single traffic control management centre to oversee this”, said Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner, M N Nagaraj.

Meanwhile, the slow pace of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project to convert a 22 km stretch between Hubballi-Dharwad into four lanes has inconvenienced the people here.

According to police sources, as many as 219 non-fatal accidents and 48 fatal mishaps have occurred after road construction work began. The police officials claim the condition of the roads here is not favourable for two wheeler riders.

“Many bikers have died in accidents here for not wearing helmets, absence of sign boards, improper diversions, and dusty and edged roads,” they revealed.